Monday, January 24, 2011

This weekend, I reached another one of my four life goals. I've played tackle football, I've played (and continue to play) roller derby, and now I've driven a stock car.

On Saturday, my husband and I each drove twenty laps at Texas Motor Speedway with the help of Team Texas Driving School﻿. You may recall this was my 40th birthday present from him? Like I said before, BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! The only way he can top this is by giving me the 40, 60, or 80 lap courses, so I can learn drafting and all those other things "a natural" should be able to do on a racetrack. Yes, my instructor called me a natural, and I, of course, responded with "I bet you say that to all the girls". No, what I really said was "Well, I play roller derby, so I know about timing on the track." I could tell he thought I was crazy. Whatever, dude.

There is no way I can describe the feeling of taking those 25° turns at 140+ MPH. When the video comes in, we will see how many times my YEEHAWs tried to capture the moment. Also how I would get really mad when the pros driving the people who just wanted to ride would pass me up. None of the other people who paid to drive passed me, although I did pass quite a few of them. It was an amazing experience, even better than skydiving to me. I don't know what it is about going fast and turning left that gets to me, but sometimes I have to keep from quoting my favorite movie, Days of Thunder, when I think about it. "You want to control something that's out of control? Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac."

So what's my final life goal? Let's see if I ever get around to paying for flying lessons, now that I've discovered I really should have been a race car driver.